High volume dough piece production method

ABSTRACT

Dough pieces are produced in high volume by a plurality of dual extruders spaced across a conveyor and each having a pair of extrusion nozzles aligned in the direction of conveyor travel. A cut-off mechanism severs the dough extrusions to deposit dough pieces on the conveyor. The speed of the conveyor is related to the speed of the cut-off mechanism so that the dough pieces produced by each extruder form a single uniformly spaced line. The extruders are fed from a common supply through individual inlets and means are provided to balance the flow through the nozzles.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 522,293,filed 8/11/83, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,685,878.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to process for producing dough pieces, andmore particularly, high volume apparatus for producing dough pieces cutfrom extruded dough.

In the baking industry there are continuous technological efforts toincrease the rate of product flow through the dough forming, baking, andpackaging operations of the manufacturing process.

The dough pieces for certain baked products are formed by the wire cutmethod. In this operation, dough is extruded from a horizontallyoriented die and sections of the dough are sliced off by a thin movingwire.

The speed of the baking and packaging operations have advanced to thepoint where the commercially available wire cut machines cannot supplydough pieces at a rate sufficient to match those operations. While theextrusion rate can be increased considerably without difficulty, thereis a practical limit to the speed at which the cutting wire willefficiently form dough pieces.

A wire cut machine deposits pieces onto a conveyor belt in a series ofparallel rows or columns. The normal speed of operation of thesemachines is between 150 and 180 pieces per minute for each linedeposited on the conveyor.

At these speeds, the wire cuts cleanly through the extruding doughwithout transferring a significant amount of energy to the piece cutoff. The pieces fall vertically onto the conveyor in a consistentuniform pattern. When these machines run at speeds greater than 180pieces per minute, the pattern is disrupted in two ways. At these highspeeds the machine begins to vibrate and this effects the placement ofthe dough pieces. Also, the wire, because of its speed, transferssufficient energy into the pieces to throw the pieces horizontally in anunpredictable manner. In addition, when the dough contains particlessuch as chocolate chips, the energy transferred to the pieces variesaccording to the number and location of the particles which are struckby the wire as it passes through the extrusion.

As a result of this unpredictable horizontal displacement of the doughpieces, the dough pieces are deposited on the conveyor in an irregularpattern which effects the baking and packaging operations. Modernefficient automated packaging machinery requires that the baked articlesbe arranged in well defined rows. Also, wire cut dough pieces generallyspread during baking. Therefore, dough pieces which are too closetogether fuse into one large irregular baked piece and must bediscarded. Modern packaging methods also require that the dough piecesbe uniform in size so as to produce baked products of uniform size andweight which can be processed by automatic machinery.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide apparatusfor producing dough pieces in high volume.

Another object is to provide such apparatus for producing wire cut doughpieces arranged in well defined rows.

Another object is to provide extrusion apparatus containing simple andeffective means for balancing the flow of dough from a plurality ofnozzles fed by a common source.

The foregoing objects are accomplished by providing a conveyor and adough piece former having plural outlets spaced along the direction oftravel of the conveyor, the speed of the conveyor being related to theoperating speed of the dough piece former so as to form a line of evenlyspaced dough pieces; and by providing throttling apparatus for balancingthe flow of dough from a common source to individual nozzles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A preferred embodiment of the invention have been chosen for purpose ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings,forming apart of the specification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a wire cut, dough piece formingapparatus according to the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a plan view taken generally along line 2--2 on FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of a portion of FIG. 2 showing flow adjustingmechanisms,

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4--4 on FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is an end view of the arrangement shown on FIG. 3,

FIG. 6 is a side view of a flow adjusting rod,

FIG. 7 is a front view of an auger positioning spacer, and

FIG. 8 is a plan view of a portion of the conveyor illustrating the dropsequence of dough pieces in forming a row of dough pieces.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the drawing in detail, there is shown apparatus accordingto the present invention which includes a conveyor 10 having a belt 11,are a wire cut dough machine 12 positioned over the conveyor. Themachine 11 incorporates a series of dual extruders 14 spaced across theconveyor 10, each having two extrusion nozzles 15, 16. The extruders 14are fed from a common hopper 17 by two feed rolls 18, 19. The hopper 17and the rolls 18, 19 extend transversly of the conveyor across theextruders. A wire cut mechanism 20 simultaneously slices through thedough extruding from the nozzles 15, 16 to form dough pieces which fallupon the conveyor belt.

Referring now to FIG. 4, dough is forced by the rolls 18, 19 between apair of scrapers 21 into the inlets 22 of the extruders. Each of theextruders 14 comprise a dual auger 24 fitted into a bore 25 in an augerhousing 26. The nozzles 15, 16 are fastened to the bottom of the housing26 inline with discharge openings 27, 28 at opposite ends of the dualauger.

The dual auger 24 comprises a right hand thread section 29 and a lefthand thread section 30 which meet at the center beneath the inletopening 22.

At the discharge ends of the augers, the minor diameter (the diameter ofthe central body) is increased to develop a greater dough pressure atthe nozzles.

The shafts 32 on which the augers are formed are journalled at one endin a bearing block 34 and extend in the opposite direction through ablock 35 which supports the drive motor 36 and gear train 37 which powerthe augers. The gear train includes a drive gear 39 mounted on the endof each shaft 32 and intermeshed with the adjacent gears 39. Since thegear train drives adjacent shafts in opposite directions, the augersformed on adjacent shafts are pitched oppositely. The shafts 32 arelocked against axial movement with respect to the block 35 by suitablethrust bearings.

The support block 35 is mounted on a pair of shafts 40 which extendthrough the block 35 and into a bore 41 in the auger housing 26, asshown in FIG. 2. A rod 42, threaded at both ends, extends through theauger housing and is screwed into the end of the shaft 40 in the bore41. A nut 44 is provided on the free end of the rod 42 to position thesupport block 35, and thereby the augers 24, relative to the augerhousing 26. The position of the augers 24 with respect to the inlets 22effects the relative rate of dough flow to the left hand and right handportions of the auger.

The free end of each shaft 40 rests, for support, on the edge of avertical plate 45, as shown in FIG. 1. A tube 46, provided with a slotin the bottom to admit the plate 45, surrounds the free end of eachshaft 40. Each tube 46 is provided with a cap 47 on its free end and aflange 49 on the end adjacent the block 35. A bolt 50 extending throughthe cap 47 is threaded into the end of the shaft 40 to urge the sleeveto the right (as seen in FIG. 1) and position the flange 49 against theblock 35.

Referring to FIG. 2, a space 51 is positioned between the block 35 andthe auger housing 26. The spacers, shown in plan view in FIG. 7, areprovided with counter-sunk bolt holes 52 and are bolted to the housing26. The thickness of the spacer needed is determined by trial and errorusing thin shims where the spacer is. The machine 11 is placed inoperation and the spacing between the block 35 and the housing 26 isadjusted by the adding and removing of shims until the flow rate fromthe nozzles 15 and the nozzles 16 are equal. Spacers of the requiredthickness are then substituted for the shims.

In a conventional bakery setup, the wire cut dough machine could contain18 or more augers spaced across the conveyor belt. The augers and boresare formed by machining, and, even with strict tolerances somevariations from part to part are unavoidable. Also, the flow rate fromthe hopper to the inlet openings tend to decrease at the ends of thehopper where friction with the end walls of the hopper produces a degreeof laminar flow. The effects of these factors would result in variationsin the size of the dough pieces in some rows with respect to that inothers. Therefore, individually adjustable throttling mechanisms areprovided at each inlet 22 to balance the output of the extruders 14.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a choke rod 54 extends through the augerhousing 26 to intersect the edge of each opening 22. The rods 54 are cutout to provide a curved surface 55 which matches the contour of the edgeof the inlet 22. When the surface 55 is vertically oriented, the inletis unrestricted allowing full flow into the dual extruder. As the rod 54is rotated through 90 degrees, the restriction provided by the rodincreases to a maximum. Each rod 54 is rotationally positioned by meansof an adjustment plate 56. A square formation 57 is provided on the freeend of the rod. The plate 56 has a matching square hole (not shown). Theplate is mounted on the formation 57 and held by a bolt 58.

Referring also to FIG. 5, the shape of the adjustment plate 56approximates a circular quadrant. A curved slot 59 is formed in theplate along a 90 degree circular arc having its center at the axis ofthe rod 54. Each adjustment plate 56 is locked in position by a bolt 60which extends through the curved slot, into the edge of a block 61mounted on the auger housing 26.

The wire cut mechanism 20 includes a guide rod 62 mounted on each end ofthe machine 12 by a bracket 64. Sliding blocks 65 and 66 are mounted oneach of the rods 62 on either side of the support bracket 64. Wireholding fingers 67, 68 are mounted on pivoted rods (not shown) whichextend between the blocks 65, 66. Wires are stretched across theconveyor belt 11 between the free ends of the fingers 67 and between thefree ends of the fingers 68. The sliding blocks 65 and 66 on each sideof the machine are interconnected by bars 69 for snychronous motion. Thesliding blocks are reciprocated upon the guide rods by a crank mechanism70 driven by a motor 71. The reciprocating motion of the blocks 65, 66more the cutting wires past the nozzles. Another crank mechanism (notshown) also driven by the motor 71 pivots the wire holding fingers 67,68 upwardly toward the nozzles at the beginning of the cut stroke sothat the wires move across the faces of the nozzles as the extrusion issliced. On the retract stoke, the wire holding fingers are pivoteddownwardly so that the wires pass below the end of the extruding doughstreams.

The conveyor 10 is driven by a motor 72 provided with a speed controlunit 74. The speed of the conveyor is adjusted with relation to thespeed of operation of the cut-off mechanism 20, so that, between doughpiece drops, the conveyor belt 11 moves a distance equal to two thirdsof the spacing of the nozzles 15 and 16. Referring to FIG. 8, there isshown the drop pattern for one set of nozzles 15, 16. The nozzles arepositioned above the circles marked "Drop Point" and are separated by adistance X as indicated. The circles on the conveyor belt 11 representthe dough pieces formed on four consecutive drops. The position of thesedough pieces is that which they occupy at the time the fourth drop ismade. The dough pieces marked "1" were dropped on the first drop andhave moved through a distance of three times 2/3X. The dough piecesmarked "2" were dropped on the second drop and have moved through adistance of two times 2/3X. The dough pieces marked "3" were dropped onthird drop and have moved the distance 2/3X.

Of these pieces, the "A" pieces were dropped from a nozzle 15 and the"B" pieces were dropped from a nozzle 16. The "A" pieces are separatedfrom each other by a distance of 2/3X. The "B" pieces are likewiseseparated from each other by a distance of 2/3X, and each "B" piecefalls halfway between two consecutive "A" pieces. Thus a line of doughpieces are formed in which the consecutive pieces are separated by onethird the distance between the nozzles.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the present invention providesapparatus for producing dough pieces in high volume which are arrangedin well defined rows and are of uniform size and weight.

I claim:
 1. A method for producing dough pieces, comprising the stepsof:feeding dough to a pair of extruder nozzles at respective extrusionstations spaced a predetermined distance from one another above aconveyor; extruding dough at substantially the same rate through saidextruder nozzles; cutting off sections of dough being extruded throughsaid nozzles to form at each nozzle a series of discrete dough pieces,dough pieces being cut off substantially simultaneously at said nozzles;depositing said dough pieces on said conveyor so that dough piecesformed at either one of said nozzles are spaced from each other on saidconveyor by a distance equal to two-thirds of said predetermineddistance; and continuously driving said conveyor at a speed so relatedto said predetermined distance and to the rate of dough piece formationthat a line of equally spaced dough pieces is formed on said conveyor.2. The method defined in claim 1 wherein said step of feeding comprisesthe step of simultaneously turning a pair of augers in respective screwextruders communicating with a respective dough inlet.
 3. The methoddefined in claim 2 wherein said augers are connected to one another,further comprising the step of axially positioning said augers withrespect to said inlet to balance the relative outputs of said screwextruders.